Thrilled with Rupert - and can't wait to drive him!

Esther.D

Esther.D

Moderator
Jan 3, 2003
8,576
0
36
46
Shetland!
maenoferren.mysite.freeserve.com
As some of you will know I have debating about Rupert's bitting for a while and have avoided putting him into a Liverpool as he hated the pelham I tried him in. But today I decided to bite the bullet and just longrein him in one of the shetlands Liverpools (Mac and Polo take 4.5" bits, Rupert really takes a 4.75" now but a 4.5" was ok for an experiment).

And he went beautifully in it :eek: I was expecting the usual trantrums and crunching of the bit etc but he took it quietly and was better than he is in his usual french link (which had been the only bit he accepted so far). I only had him on the snaffle setting and he still backed off the bit a little, but less than he usually does in his FL and he worked so much better in it.

I have never seen him go so well, he was just incomparable. He has nice paces anyway but today he was giving me a level of collection and lengthened strides as well as a lovely working trot.

Things would have been made much easier by a flat area without natural hazards :D but he did really really well.

I was getting rather overexcited and I am now more determined than ever that I have to drive him - he just has makings of a really smart little driving pony. Very excited now and am determined that however long it takes to get him in harness I am determined to do it! I can't not, he is just perfect for what I have always said I would have if I had a bigger driving pony...I just didn't realise he had it in him initially!
 

Attachments

  • rupert1.jpg
    rupert1.jpg
    16.5 KB · Views: 152
Thanks Galadriel - I hardly recognised him today! Really really pleased with him :D I love longreining, definately more of that in order I think to get some more schooling in now that we seem to have found a bit he likes and will relax and go well in :)

I have changed my avatar in honour of my best day yet with Rupert :cool:
 
Last edited:
After today I have a whole new focus - now I am producing a driving trials pony. Even if it takes some time to get there, after today it is SO worth taking that time.

Can you tell how excited I am?
:eek: :D

For the first time in a couple of years I enjoyed working with him so much I have still got a big grin from ear to ear. I get like that with the shetlands, but this is the first time ever with Rupert.
 
Esther - he looks stunning and so happy in harness - yup you definately have to drive him. How much longer will you longrein him for? Have you got a trap for him or not I cant remember? Has he pulled a tyre or anything yet?

At least he will be ok driving cross country with all that rough terrain you have ;)
 
Janice - yes I have an exercise cart for him already. He has pulled a deconstructed pallet (sections removed so he couldn't leg legs tangled etc) which I have found good for the shetlands, but it is just too rough on our going here and it leaps around behind him like a mad thing and he was rather spooky when I tried it, however considering the driving shetlands in the field were spooking at it leaping about and rattling I'm not really surprised :rolleyes: Am going to try a tyre, if that is no good then I have two options - wait til I can get to the arena to do it (which looks like it will be the spring now as the track is so slippy the 4x4 is sliding on it so we daren't take a trailer along, especially not with horses in), or do a load more longreining and general desensitization and then go straight into the vehicle on our tracks (which are not ideal for a novice driving pony, I would normally start them in a flat field and then onto a quiet lane as roads are much easier surfaces to pull along). Am continuing the longreining for the moment and see how he goes then I can make a decision, but if needs be I am willing (albeit impatient) to wait til the spring as it is not worth risking things just for the sake of a few months. However Bobby is being taken straight onto the tracks as he is quiet enough, and I will do the same with Rupert if he seems quiet enough once I have put some more work in.

Officially I could stop longreining Rupert now as he is perfectly obedient and responsive and already knows his voice aids (seemed to know them before I started..another addition to the suspicious circumstances that hint at him possibly being driven as a youngster), but I want to get him really settled on longreins before I go further as he is a fizzy, sharp pony, if he was a really calm one I would have moved on before now. I also might as well get some schooling in while I am at it :)

I have already introduced him to the feel of the breeching and breastcollar taking up, and he was perfectly unmoved by it and pulled Stephen around the place happily. I have had a curtain pole along his side to mimic a shaft and he was totally umpreturbed by that too. So the tyre is the next stage and in theory when he accepts that in walk and trot then we can introduce the vehicle, although some people go straight into the vehicle without the tyre, depends which schol of thought you follow....(they believe the tyre is actually more frightening than the vehicle and so an unnecessary step..however I believe that the more desensitized they are the better and would rather things went pearshaped towing a tyre - which is just held by a rope threaded through and held by the assistant so can be released immediately - than harnessed to a carriage...).

Might try and obtain an old tyre for next weekend...and see what he thinks of that, as it should clatter less behind him.

We also need to work on him longreining out alone some more, as I need to know he will not nap (well at least only very mildly) in the carriage...
 
You know he's turning out to look a very smart, neat little driving horse......has he been driven?

In that first pic he just has a certain je ne sais quoi! (sp) almost as if something in his head says "I know!"
 
Even if you have to wait until spring to put him too, there is no race to get him between shafts, its much better to bombproof him as much as possible - after all I expect that he will be driven lots and lots over the years :D :D Also by putting him in the carriage next spring, it will leave you all spring and summer and autumn to drive him out, whereas it might be more sporadic over the winter. Mind you Im impatient too, so I would be counting the days!!

My driving instructor does both pallet and tyre, just so they get used to pulling different things with different weights, with different drag as well.

I cant wait to see the first driven pics :D
 
You know he's turning out to look a very smart, neat little driving horse......has he been driven?

In that first pic he just has a certain je ne sais quoi! (sp) almost as if something in his head says "I know!"
Well it is really hard to say, but I know exactly what you mean and he feels like a driving horse to longrein - you will understand what I mean by that as you have spotted it too...

If he has been driven it must have been before he was 4yrs old as I have his history back to when he was about 4 or 4 and a half ish...However the riding centre he came from get most of their horses from a dealer who gets his stock from round areas of Co. Durham that are big driving areas where almost everything is stuck into an exercise vehicle and driven (not always well mind you and often too early and too hard..).

Supporting the idea that he has been driven are the following facts:

- he already knew how to longrein and knew all his voice commands and was happy with the whip from the first time I tried..(which considering his ridden schooling seems to have been very minimal was unexpected..)

- he accepted all the harness, even the crupper, without hesitation.. even on his new harness where the crupper doesn't buckle so I had to fold his tail to get it through (surprising considering he is quite capable of making a fuss about a rug being put on)

- he didn't jump when touched after the blinkers were first put on as most horses do and didn't jump when flicked with the whip with the blinkers on

- he wasn't bothered by the shetlands' vehicle, even when we had the four-wheeler on its side to check it over and then flipped it back onto its wheels with a clatter right beside him he didn't jump. And even from the start he didn't shy at the shetlands being driven as riding ponies normally do

- he accepted the curtain pole down his side like a shaft, AND pushed into it straight away when I asked him to turn (normally you have to train ponies to push the shaft around as when they feel resistance they usually stop)

- he accepted the breeching being pulled up tight and sat back into it as soon as it took up (again usually all but the calmest pony will jump when the breeching first takes up)

- as soon as weight was put on his traces he leant into them and walked on, pulling Stephen right off his feet :D (usually again ponies stop as soon as they meet resistance on the traces)

I cannot answer whether this adds up to just a very calm pony (which is not normal for him ;) ) or one that has been previously driven. It certainly weighs in favour of him having been driven before. However I am carrying on gradually on the assumption that he hasn't and we'll see what happens.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
newrider.com
Top Bottom
Back